NIPC Law

  Jane Lambert Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (HH Judge Hacon) Harrison (t/a Rayson Engineering) v Buchanan and anothe r [2025] EWHC 3283 (IPEC) (17 Dec 2025) This was a claim for breach of contract and copyright infringement.  The contract claim was based on the claimant's allegation that the defendants commissioned him to create drawings of components for an electrochemical water conditioner.  The copyright claim was based on the claimant's further allegation that copyright subsisted in those drawings, that he was the first owner of those copyrights and that the defendants had used the drawings without his licence.  The defendants denied that there was a binding agreement and argued that the drawings were not fit for purpose.  The action came on for trial before His Honour Judge Hacon on 21 Nov 2025.  By para [21] of his judgment in Harrison (t/a Rayson Engineering) v Buchanan and Another [2025] EWHC 3283 (IPEC), which he handed down on 17 ...

Author  Tiia Monto   Licence CC BY-SA 3.0   Source Wikimedia Commons   Jane Lambert Supreme Court (Lord Hodge, Lord Briggs, Lord Hamblen, Lord Burrows and Lord Stephens)  Dairy UK Ltd v Oatly AB [2026] UKSC 4 (11 Feb 2026) This was an appeal by Oatly AB ("Oatly") against the decision of the Court of Appeal in Dairy UK Ltd v Oatly AB [2024] EWCA Civ 1453 (29 Nov 2024) to set aside that of Mr Justice Richard Smith in  Oatly AB v Dairy UK Ltd [2023] EWHC 3204 (Ch) (14 Dec 2023) and restore the decision of Mrs Judi Pike on behalf of the Registrar of Trade Marks in Dairy UK Ltd v Oatley AB BL O/0049/23 17 Jan 2023. The Mark The mark in suit was POST MILK GENERATION which Oatley registered as a UK trade mark under trade mark number UK3445440  for  T-shirts in class 25,  oat‐based drinks as milk substitutes, oat‐based yoghurt substitute, oat‐based crème fraiche, oat‐based cooking cream and creamer in class 29,  oat‐based vanilla sauce ...

Supreme Court of the United Kingdom Author Kelsey Farish Licence CC BY 4,0   Source Wikimedia Commons   J ane Lambert Supreme Court (Lord Briggs, Lord Hamblen, Lord Leggatt, Lord Stephens, and Lord Kitchin) Emotional Perception AI Ltd. v Comptroller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks   [2026] UKSC 3 This was an appeal by Emotional Appeal AI Limited ("the applicant") against the Court of Appeal's decision in  Emotional Perception AI Ltd v Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks   [2024] Bus LR 14, [2023] WLR(D) 500, [2023] EWHC 2948 (Ch) (21 Nov 2023) to uphold the examiner's objection to the patentability of the applicant's invention. I discussed the Court of Appeal's reasoning in  Patents - the Appeal in Comptroller v Emotional Perceptions   on 26 Aug 2024. The Invention The applicant applied to the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office for a patent for a method of training a neural network to reflect emotional perc...

Jane Lambert   Business and Property Courts of England and Wales, Intellectual Property (Sir Colin Birss, Chancellor) QMC Instruments Ltd v Celtic Terahertz Technology Ltd and others [2025] EWHC 3485 (IPEC) (26 Nov 2025) This was a dispute between two university spin-off companies, which were incorporated to exploit the work of Professor Peter Ade .  Professor Ade carried out research into the far-infrared spectrum first at  Queen Mary College (now Queen Mary University London)  until 2001 and afterwards at Cardiff University . While at Queen Mary, he helped to set up QMC Instruments Ltd.  ("QMCIL") to sell far-infrared detectors and multimesh filters, some of which he had designed.  Some years later, Professor Ade and colleagues who had followed him to Cardiff established Celtic Terahertz Technology Ltd  ("CTT"). QMCIL Queen Mary College sold QMCILto investors in 1991 and warranted that the company was the sole beneficial owner of all the IP relatin...

Jane Lambert Intellectual Property Enterprise Court  (HH Judge Melissa Clarke) Dryrobe Ltd v Caesr Group Ltd    [2025] EWHC 3167 (IPEC) (4 Dec 2025) This was an action for trade mark infringement and passing off and a counterclaim for revocation or, alternatively, invalidation of the trade marks in suit. Dryrobe The claimant was a private company incorporated with limited liability under the Companies Act 2006 , in the name of  Dryrobe Limited ("Dryrobe") , with  company number 08782079.  Dryrobe makes and sells outdoor clothing products under the brand name DRYROBE.  Its most popular product is the Dryrobe Advance changing robe shown in the above photograph. The Marks Dryrobe is the registered proprietor of the following British trade marks: Number Mark Filing Date Registration Date Goods UK00003001195 DRYROBE 9 Apr 2013 19 Jul 2013 Class 25 "Changing robes" "waterproof and windproof robes" "robes, gowns and capes of towelling material" "be...